LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Royal Challengers Bengaluru upstaged Rishabh Pant’s century and stormed into the Indian Premier League’s qualifier 1 with a monumental six-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
Bengaluru, needing a victory to avoid playing an eliminator against Mumbai Indians, cruised to 230-4 and became the first team in IPL history to win all its away games.
Bengaluru will take on table-topper Punjab Kings on Thursday. Gujarat Titans slipped to No. 3 and will meet Mumbai in the eliminator on Friday.
The loser of qualifier 1 gets another chance to have a crack at next Tuesday’s final in Ahmedabad when it plays the winner of eliminator on Sunday.
Pant’s long struggle with the bat finally ended when the left-hander smashed 118 off 61 balls and carried Lucknow to 227-3 after Bengaluru’s stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma had won the toss and elected to field.
Sharma’s blistering unbeaten 85 off just 33 balls that featured six sixes and eight fours propelled Bengaluru to chase down the tall target with eight balls to spare after Virat Kohli’s 54 off 30 balls had provided a brisk start.
New Zealand fast bowler Will O’Rourke finished with expensive figures of 2-74 despite claiming the wickets of Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone off successive balls in the ninth over.
Bengaluru slipped to 123-4 in the 12th over when Kohli sliced a catch to long-off but Sharma and Mayank Agarwal (41 not out) counterpunched Lucknow with a 107-run stand off 45 balls and led their team to an emphatic win.
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The Associated Press
